A Critical Study of Alfred Ayer's Emotivism

Emotivism is one of the most important and, at the same time, most extreme non-cognitive theories in the field of ethics. As the most important moral theory of the 20th century, this theory was influenced by Alfred Ayer (1910-1910), being influenced by the teachings of the Vienna circle and classical analytic philosophers of the first period such as Frege, Russell, Moore and Wittgenstein. This theory believes that morality is nothing but the appearance of individual emotions and feelings. As is clear, such an attitude to ethics will lead to ethical relativism, regardless of opposing rationality and directing humsn emotions toward epistemology. In this research, we will merely examine and criticize the attitude in the light of the principle of verification as the most important doctrine of the Vienna circle. This study, using analytical method, has come to the conclusion that the theory of emotionality has nothing except the Vienna Circle principle of verification and, therefore, by criticizing this principle, the theory of emotivism would be devoid of any scientific point of view in the field of ethics.